Do you remember the very first DVD you ever owned?
I do.
I had just bought a combo VHS/DVD player — back when they were still pretty pricey — and a friend gave me the campy cheerleader cult classic Bring it On. (It wasn’t a classic back then; just campy.)
It also wasn’t a musical, but it is now, and not on Broadway. My west coast friends have the bragging rights to this one.
Bring it On: The Musical may be playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through December 10th, but they have recruited a bunch of Broadway award-winners to their team:
- Tony Award-winning writer Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q)
- Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights)
- Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal)
- Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler (In The Heights)
It’s gotta be good, right?
Tweets from audience members, both celebrity and ‘regular folk,’ have been very enthusiastic. The critics appear to have their doubts.
But it’s early yet. There’s lots of time to polish. Bring it On: The Musical is on a national tour, although no Broadway dates appear to be scheduled.
Yet.
I’m sexy, I’m cute,
I’m popular to boot.
I’m wanted, I’m hot,
I’m everything you’re not,
I’m pretty, I’m cool,
I dominate this school,
Who am I? Just guess,
Guys wanna touch my chest,
We cheer and we lead,
We act like we’re on speed,
Hate us ’cause we’re beautiful,
Well we don’t like you either,
We’re cheerleaders,
We are cheerleaders.
All in the family
Turns out you can’t judge a musical by its poster.
The only thing I knew about the Broadway show Fun Home before I saw it last night was a) the critics loved it and b) the Tony voters did, too.
It scored 12 nominations earlier this week.
I didn’t know the soundtrack or the book upon which it was based. I walked in the theatre about as clueless as a person could get.
So imagine my surprise when the show wasn’t the singing, dancing Partridge Family parody that I had cooked up in my head.
If you too are in the dark (and wish to remain so), stop reading now.
Have they left? Okay. So the rest of you know why my mind is a bit blown right now.
The musical’s narrator is a lesbian cartoonist. (Yeah, this show’s no Cinderella.) With the help of her very young self and college-aged self — two incredible young performers — she tells her life story. With captions.
(‘Cause she’s a cartoonist.)
Yeah.
But that’s not to say there weren’t moments of humor and laughter. Her first girl-on-girl experience in college inspired “Changing My Major to Joan,” one of my favorite songs in the show. And the kids did do a little Partridge Family at one point, so the graphic designer gets to keep his job.
The cast is all-around amazing. I do wish I had seen the show off-Broadway before they were plopped down into this in-the-round venue. It has led to a lot of ‘singing to the audience’ staging that seems amateurish for a story of such complexity.
It is quite a ride.
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Posted in Broadway, Commentary, dancing, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Music, New York City, Relationships, Singing, theater
Tagged Broadway, captions, cartoonist, cast, clueless, college, critics, dancing, family, Fun Home, funeral director, funeral home, gay, graphic designer, Humor, in the round, laughter, lesbian, life story, mind blown, movie theatre, musical, narrator, Off-Broadway, parody, Partridge Family, performers, poster, review, singing, soundtrack, staging, suicide, teacher, Tony Award, Tony nominations